Can I replace the Elevator Disk exercise with a strip of shoestring licorice?

Q:   Hi, Can I replace the Elevator Disk exercise with a strip of shoestring licorice?

A:  The purpose of using the 100% flattened cotton braiding during the Elevator Disk Exercise is to assure that the client is able to manipulate and collect the braiding in a coordinated fashion.  It is given at the end of Phase One to be certain that the client has achieved the Phase One goals of being able to differentiate the tongue, lips, and mandible.  I think the shoestring licorice might serve a purpose for a young child with particular oral motor goals, but I can’t see a purpose for it within the Myo Manual’s standard program for orofacial myology disorders.